More Vicious Rhetoric

James Miller asserted, in his letter to the editor [June 17, "Democrats Plan To Block Trump"], that "at no time did the Republican Party . . . act in the manner that the Democrats are acting" to block the president from governing.

In fact, there have been many times when the Republican Party has been flagrantly obstructionist -- from the beginning of President Obama's time in office, when Mitch McConnell stated openly that his "number one priority is making sure President Obama is a one-term president," exhorting the Senate not to pass any Obama-backed legislation, to the last year of Obama's second term, when McConnell vowed not to hold confirmation hearings for any Supreme Court nominee the sitting president might put forward.

For "unfounded allegations" and "vicious rhetoric," which Mr. Miller attributes to Democrats, it's hard to find a match for Mr. Trump's tweets, from his allegations of Obama's illegitimacy to his anti-constitutional harangues characterizing the legitimate press as "the enemies of the people."

In something akin to an unfounded allegation, Mr. Miller points to "a disgruntled presidential supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders," who shot Sen. Steve Scalise and others, as though he were a typical example of Democratic behavior. The irony (to borrow Mr. Miller's observation) is that it's the Democrats who advocate for sane gun control policies that might keep assault weapons out of the hands of the criminally disgruntled.